Claude Sonnet 5
The most capable model most people can reach without paying anything, and the default on the free Claude plan.
The facts at a glance
Pricing last checked August 22, 2026. Prices change and vary by region. Check the official pricing page ↗
Assessment
What it does well
- Free to use on the Claude free plan, which is unusual for a model of this class
- Anthropic states performance close to Opus 4.8 at a much lower price
- Handles autonomous multi step tool use, including browsers and terminals, that previously needed a larger model
Where it falls short
- Knowledge cutoff of January 2026 is older than the Opus tier
- Anthropic documents substantially poorer performance than the Opus models on cybersecurity exploit development, with cyber safeguards on by default
Privacy and data control
On consumer Claude accounts, Anthropic states data is not used for model training unless the user opts in through Model Improvement Privacy Settings, and Incognito chats are excluded even when that setting is on.
The longer read
The introductory price is now permanent
The USD 2.00 and USD 10.00 rates were introduced through 31 August 2026, with a scheduled rise to USD 3.00 and USD 15.00 on 1 September. Anthropic cancelled that rise on 10 August 2026 and made the introductory rate the standard price. Build your cost model on 2.00 and 10.00, not on the higher figures that were originally announced.
How it performs by outcome
We assess products against a job, not a leaderboard. These are the outcomes this entry is compared under.
Worth comparing against
How this profile was produced
Source review. Every fact here is drawn from the provider documentation linked below and checked on the date shown. We have not yet run this entry through a controlled test, and no scoring is implied.
Read the full review methodology →